‏"ملخص الأحداث والتدابير الرئيسية التي اتخذها سمو نائب الملك اللورد كرزون من كيدلستون، نائب الملك والحاكم العام للهند. الجزء I - الخليج الفارسي." [و‎‎١‎٥] (٩٢/٣٤)

52
visit was regarded as finally binding him to the British cause and as setting the
seal upon the protection and overlordsbip of the British Power.
The foundation of new consular posts in the Persian Gulf by the Russian,
Trench and German Governments was met by an even greater activity on the
British consular establishments, part of Lord Curzon’s Government _ in
guards and residences. reorganising and extending their politico-
administrative arrangements. A Vice-Consulate was created at Bandar Abbas
in 1900, and was raised in 1904 to the status of a full Consulate with jurisdic
tion extending from the Shibkuh ports on the west to the coast of Persian
Baluchistan on the east ; the Consul was also appointed Assistant Resident
for the Musandim promontory, for the Arab islands of Bu Musa and Tanb and
for the British station of Bassidore. The Bushire Residency and Consulate-
General was strengthened in 1904 by the addition of a Vice-Consul of the
Levant service, and in 1905 by the creation, of a Second Assistantsbip to the
Resident ; in 1905 also, by arrangement with Persia, the Pirst Assistant to the
Resident and the Residency Surgeon were invested with the rank of Consul
and Vice-Consul respectively for the ports of Southern Persia. In 1904 the
Vice-Consul at Mohammerah, a member of the Levant consular service, was
promoted to the dignity of Consul; and a Vice-Consulate for Arabistan, to be
held by a political officer of the Indian service, was instituted at Ahwaz, In
Turkish Arabia a regular Vice-Consulate in charge of a native gentleman was
opened at Kerbela in 1903, taking the place of an honorary agency which had
existed for a number of years, and in 1905 an additional subordinate officer was
attached to the Baghdad Residency for commercial work. A Political Agency
was established at Kovveit in 1904, a native news-agency instituted in 1899
being at the same time abolished. In Bahrein an Uncovenanted Political
Assistant was substituted in 1900 for the native agent who had until then been
the custodian of British interests in the principality ; and in 1904 this officer
in his turn made way for an Assistant Agent who was shortly afterwards
invested with the local rank of Political Agent. Except where the contrary
is stated the officers appointed to the new posts were all members of the Indian
Political Department.
Closely associated with the subject of political representation is that of the
military guards by which the safety of the consular and other officials is
assured and the dignity of their office maintained. The manner in which this
question was settled for the whole of Persia has already been described, and
here it only remains to add that, in the Persian Gulf, the strength of the con
sular guards at Ahwaz and Bandar Abbas w r as fixed at 12 sabres and at 4
sabres and 16 rifles, respectively ; that an infantry detachment of 28 of all
ranks was provided for the protection of the Bahrein Agency; and that
arrangements were made for increasing the numbers or improving the
composition of the Residency guards at Baghdad and Bushire. The improve
ment of British consular residences effected under Lord Curzon’s orders
has already been mentioned in its general aspect; in the Persian Gulf region it
was exemplified chiefly in Bahrein where an excellent house for the Political
Agent was built in 1901-02, at Basrah where a new double-storeyed Consulate
was completed in 1903, at Maskat where in 1904 a handsome block of build
ings on the sea front was added to the Agency as quarters for the Agency
Surgeon and Telegraph Officer, and at Baghdad where a palatial new Residency
on the river hank, with numerous accessory buildings, came into existence
in 1904-05. Designs were also prepared for a Consulate building at
Bandar Abbas, for a Vice-Consulate at Ahwaz, and for a Political Agency at
Koweit. Almost the entire cost of the buildings completed during Lord
Curzon’s Viceroyalty was borne by the Government of India. In 1905 arrange
ments were made to provide the R. I. M. S. “ Comet,’* the despatch vessel of
the Baghdad Residency, with a motor launch.
While the British political and consular establishments in the Gulf were
everywhere utilised to the utmost extent, the services of a British medical staff,
„ . 4 . , ... drawn from India, were requisitioned at
different points for semi-political purposes,
and in particular to meet the demand for sanitary precautions on the coast of
Persia which followed the outbreak of bubonic plague in India in 1896. In
1897 the Persian Government delegated their sanitary powers in respect of the